


After

by orphan_account



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 13:44:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15196025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account





	After

“She said she’d be in touch,” Jinx announced, her fingers still pressing the rose’s stem together in a clamping grip. She could feel her thumb grow white.  
And she had to admit, there was a flutter in her stomach as she said those words, her teammates’ whoops and hollers coming into focus, pride blooming in her heart because- oh my god- she did it, damn it! But there was also a flutter in her stomach- a small one- as she rubbed the rose and pricked her finger on a thorn. The big, big, big big big problem was now separating the two. What was the bigger flutter? Pride, from getting respect from her greatest hero? Or… Maybe…? Was it possible that the boy, she and him-

Actually, no. She held her breath for a couple of seconds, and then shook herself determinedly, letting the rose drop from her hand. There’s no problem. There’s no confusion. Jinx was excited, because she would now get to join the Brotherhood. The HIVE FIVE could do something for once. There was no other reason. There was no other person that was making her… Flutter. 

She will not let pretty words and a rose stand in her way.

She was above that.

And Jinx was definitely, absolutely, totally, no-doubt-in-the-world above him.

*****

“Celebrate!” Gizmo had started to scream. He was the tiniest of the HIVE FIVE villain group- a twingy little shortstack with a bald head and a metal backpack. “Let’s go robbing! 21st street!”

Jinx groaned, but she couldn’t help beaming. She had done amazing, hadn’t she? “GIZmo,” she rolled her eyes excitedly. “We haven’t gotten into the brotherhood YET…”

“Who cares?” Billy Numerous, the lanky villain who could divide himself into as many people as he liked, threw his hands up. “We haven’t robbed anything good in ages! We haven’t had any good news in ages! Let’s celebrate anyways!”

Jinx’s spirits slighty stumbled. She’d kind of hoped they would get to talk more about getting into the Brotherhood, and say stuff like “Of COURSE we’re getting in!” and pour some more pride on her. The stumble gave her a good reality check.

Jinx put her hands to her hips and creased her brow. “No,” she put it out there uncertainly, tasting the way the decision felt on her mouth. “No,” she said, much more confidently. “We can’t. Kid Flash-” she caught her breath for a second- “is still out there. And he’s onto us. He’s always onto us. It’d be a terrible waste of time.”

“Aw, what would we do tonight instead?” Billy Numerous said, his Southern twang ringing through the air in double waves, as he split into two people, three people, four. He threw up a soccer ball and headbutted it over to Billy #3. “Play soccer with myselves?”

“Hack into another unsuspecting person’s emails… Again?” Gizmo yawned, his hands flying across the keyboard of the computer as they spoke.

“Play video games for a couple more months?” Mammoth the giant took up the whole sofa, his butt accidentally smashing one of the game consoles. The now sixteen Billy Numerouses all gasped in complete outrage. “Or maybe not.”

They all began to fight, or beg Jinx to leave their destroyed-and-slowly-repairing home (which had just been destroyed a couple of days ago by Kid Flash himself).

She shifted hips and rolled her pink cat eyes. “Fine,” she decided resignedly, half dreading this. An outburst of whooping vibrated through the room, and she added tiredly, “Tomorrow, though. Not tonight.” She plunged into her own thoughts as the noises of her teammates cheering drowned out. He will show up tomorrow. There’s no doubt about it. 

Jinx turned to go to her dilapidated room. She became faced with the rose, which had been kicked off into the corner somehow, taunting her. She struggled with herself, and finally managed to keep her head held high and move past it without a second glance, her fingertips twitching at her side.

There was another flutter in her stomach. She was definitely going to see him tomorrow night.

Jinx hated herself.

**********

They were actually doing pretty well. No sign of him so far.

She held her breath as Gizmo unlocked the lasers. And as Kyd Wykkyd- a mysterious guy that rarely spoke, always wore black, and always carried an air of stealth, silence, and fear. He was a swell dude- reached through the door to unlock it from the other side. And as Mammoth lifted Jinx up to reach the tiaras they always kept in the same damn spot. You’d think they’d caught on by now- maybe hide the crowns somewhere else?

But the private museum of Real Princesses- to show young girls what it looks like to be a true lady- on 21st Street never failed to please them: gourmet $50 chocolates in the gift shop, new tiaras to display every year, jewels and gems proudly perched all around. Even the decor was super elegant and could be sold for a good thousands of dollars on ebay- that half sapphire stone Jinx happened to take a liking to? It was a very nice addition to Jinx’s room for about a year, before she finally gave in and took a nice $45,000 check in exchange. 

So, yes. Back in familiar thieving territory, it seemed like things were going well. And when Jinx brushed her hands around the intertwining gold tiara, she foolishly felt a small burst of triumph.

Then she came crashing down.

Jinx knew before she even hit the bottom.

“Kiddy,” she told the air as she fell, more factual than angry. Jinx couldn’t help but have a small smile tug at her skin. 

And then there was a soft whoomph when she hit something that didn’t feel like ground, and then her face felt like it was peeling off, and her mouth flapped. She clamped it shut and buried her head into the surface behind her, clutching on for dear life.

A sudden stop knocked the breath out of her. A voice vibrated into her arms, her chest- “I didn’t realize we were on a nickname basis. Do I get to call you Jinxie now?” 

Her eyes snapped open. She could see a blur of yellow-black. She could smell heat and lemons and boy. Jinx let her surprise sink in for a moment, and she let herself breathe it all in for another, and then her head forced itself to tilt up. Jinx groaned.

“No,” she told him. “You do not.”

He grinned down at her. It took her another second to realize she was cradled to his body, his arms cupping her back towards him, her head and one hand resting against his chest, Jinx’s other hand clutching his neck. He still smelled like lemons and boy.

God. Kid Flash. His eyes were blue. His mask was yellow. His hair was red and mussed, sticking up in a wind-tossed devil-may-care sort of way. His grin was contagious. 

Jinx felt sick. 

“You weren’t invited to this party,” her smile twisted upwards. Her hand glowed pink.

This time, she had a perfect shot. He was too close. She had him clutched in her hand. It was almost too easy.

When she zapped him, she flew backwards. Jinx tensed as he dropped her, bracing herself for landing. She coughed “Now!” on the ground. 

They sprang into action. Billy Numerous surrounded him with people. Mammoth, with gloves covering his fists, held him down by the legs. Gizmo held him down with his spider legs. See-More, the villain with more than one eye, began scanning him for heat patterns and projecting an energy force around him just in case he tried to escape.

Kid Wykkyd summoned transporting holes for Flash, ready to send him to Antarctica, where more of Billy Numerous would be waiting for him.

Kid Flash groaned, his head turning to one side. Mammoth gripped harder. 

He smiled while watching Jinx walk up. Seeing this, she scowled, her arms folding together, her pink hair glinting indignantly.

She started to speak, but he cut her off-

“So what’s the occasion?”

She rolled her eyes and turned to pick up the crown behind her and dust it off. Oh, god. It was dented on one side. 

“Brotherhood initiation,” she bit her words angrily. She whipped back to wave the crown at him. “You damaged the thing you wanted to save!”

He laughed. Well, of course he laughed at her. Why wouldn’t he? 

Jinx nodded to Kyd Wykkyd, and he transferred one of the teleportation holes from Antarctica to the HIVE FIVE lair. She began to tossing down jewels and crowns. If the teleportation hole worked, they’d end up in her room.

“Wait,” he managed to stop chortling. “Jinx. Brotherhood of Evil? What happened with-“

“Madame Rouge, thanks for asking, told me she’d keep in touch,” Jinx focused and stared at a spot straight ahead. “She was… Impressed.”

“But-” he seemed, for once, at just a slight loss of words. “Didn’t you-“

“Did you think,” Jinx whipped around scathingly, ready with this speech for two days now, “That because I let you go, everything’s changed? Madame Rouge is an absolute slug of a human being, and so I shot her down. But you are a complete pest of a person, so I also have to bring down you. Just because I helped you to get back at someone else, Kid, doesn’t mean that we’re on the same team. I’m still bad luck, remember?”

“Not on that night.” Kid Flash relaxed his body. His eyes stared directly at her, the way they always did when he got all serious. “You were very good luck for me.”

The HIVE FIVE shifted uneasily. Jinx laughed, not knowing what else to do, and continued to throw jewels down through teleportation. She heard Kid Flash sigh, and there were a couple of bangs and shouts, and by the time she turned back, he was already fighting many Billy Numerouses.

“See-More!” Jinx screamed, who had been laying face-down, dazed, “GET UP!” Breaking through a Billy Numerous wall, Kid Flash rocketed towards Jinx, who threw her hands up-

And blasted him backwards with another hex. He regained himself just as Jinx regained her confidence. She smashed down the ground in front of her, sending him flying, and began throwing pink sparks everywhere. Hex after hex smacked Kid in the chest, and the scene quickly became a blur of pink and gray and red and yellow. After some moments, the dust cleared, and everyone waited in silence, unsure where the speedster was.

Until he barreled towards Jinx and tackled her, football style, down into the teleportation hole.

*****

Jinx’s back smashed against the ground. Her head lolled to one side.

She let her eyelids droop.

“Shit,” she heard him say. “Shit, Jinx. Sorry about that.”

She didn’t answer. She stayed as still as possible, loosening slowly.

“Jinx,” he started laughing. “You can’t fool-“

Her eyes flashed open. She tried to blast him in the chest, but he was-of course- too quick for her.  
His arms pinned her hands down, and all pink hexes veered off to the side, smashing into her already destroyed walls. She shot a few more just for good measure, and turned to the side in a sudden deep, angry calmness. 

“This is nice,” he remarked, and he swerved his head playfully around the side so they were face to face. A goofy laugh escaped from his chest. She looked away once again, but he brought his forehead to hers.

His smile was huge.

“This,” he poked her nose with his in a friendly jab, “Has been fun.”

She continued to look at him stonily, bit there was something weird going on inside, something jumpy underneath her skin. Jinx pushed that away for now.

She stared at him coldly in the eyes, the ones about two inches away from her own, and began to glare him down. Somehow, Jinx was sucked into studying his irises- how were they so clear? So watery and surfacey, like she was seeing the bottom of a pool puddle- and by the time she realized what was going on his grin faded.

“You could be good if you tried,” Kid Flash insisted, and Jinx rolled her eyes. Again with this stupid argument. “You’ve just never… Tried.”

“Do you expect me to drop everything?” Jinx asked, in a bored, reasoning tone. “I’m sorry, Kid. You’re just not important enough.”

The words seemed flimsy to her. Empty.

His grip tightened on her wrists. “But you let me go.”

“I don’t take orders from anyone,” Jinx repeated the words from that night robotically. “Not Madame Rouge, telling me to hand over you. And not you, telling me to hand over myself.”

“So don’t take orders from your life,” his brow creased together and he leaned away, frustrated. “Don’t have people tell you bad luck makes you a bad person!”

And she felt an urge to reach up and touch his shoulder, to tell calm him down, tell him it was okay. She’d never seen Kid Flash like this. His coolness? Carefree attitude? It was all falling down. She’d thought about this moment, a few weeks ago, when she first spoke face to face with this guy. Jinx always thought she would have felt more powerful when she finally saw through his facade. Instead, she felt like a shirt shrunken from the washing machine. It hurt.

Why?

“Kid,” she emphasized. “I am a bad person. And I’m so sorry- I really am- but there’s not much you can…”

Jinx’s eyes hardened. Kid Flash’d let go. His hands were no longer holding hers. She knew the automatic thing to do was to slash upwards, pin him down, lock him in place, stun him. She had a device somewhere that could hold him, if she knocked him out long enough to go and get it.

He seemed to be waiting for it. And not flinching. Not bracing. He was searching, eyes intense, pointed, blaring into her face.

God, she hated herself. She hadn’t slashed. She hadn’t reacted. Instead, she’d brought her hands up, letting them suspend in the air. Too late- it looked like she was about to touch Kid’s face. Which wasn’t true at all, honestly- she had no idea why she brought her hands up like that. But Kid didn’t gloat, or smirk, or anything that would’ve made her absolutely freak out- he stayed serious. For once. Kid Flash? Serious.

It calmed her down. And made the world sharper. Some light must’ve switched, or something… Because colors stood out. It was too bright for her.

Jinx had to close her eyes. Finally, her thoughts emerged to the surface. She had to get herself together.

“You do realize,” she emphasized, hard, slowly. She opened her eyes. Her hands were still up in the air. She let them glow pink, and narrowed her gaze. He hadn’t even moved from his position. He stared down, listening, intense, sharp, searching. His stare burned.  
“That I am not going to throw my life away for a boy.”

He waited, leaning forward just slightly, just in case she had something else to say.

Suddenly, she didn’t.

“What life? A life with those idiots? Working for the Brotherhood? You are so much better. My god,” he said, less accusatory. “Jinx. You’re so much better than that.”

Jinx opened her mouth. She had no control over what she could’ve done- hexed him? Grabbed him? Tell him something stupid? Done… Done something stupid, maybe?

But a tiara clunked onto her head, scratching itself into her hair. Followed by a shower of rubies.

And she remembered.

The portal was still on. The HIVE FIVE could come in at any moment.

“Oh, yeah,” she said, surprised. She was confused- not really sure what was going on inside of her- was she relieved? Disappointed? “We’re not al-”

She almost yanked herself out of her body as somebody grabbed onto her, cradled her tight, and smashed her into the worst air resistance she’d ever felt against one cheek.

Jinx panicked, obviously, and pink energy exploded from her hands. Two figures rocketed, falling tremendously for two long seconds before stumbling back into a gradually slowing pace.

“Do you want to live? Don’t do that again.” He wasn’t back to his joking mood, but he wasn’t wicked-extreme in seriousness like before. “At that speed? If we tripped? We’d be goners.” 

“Kid,” Jinx gritted her teeth, glad to get back into non-confusing territory. She hated him. Right. “What are you DOING?”

“We need to talk. Alone.” They were slowing to a stop.

“I never agreed to this.”

“I don’t agree to you being a bad person. Do you… Do you want to be bad? Is that it? You hate being good so badly-“

“Stop. Stop it.”

“-It’s so hard for you to just do something nice-“

“I can’t handle this. I can’t. I’m going to kill you, I swear-“

“-but you weren’t, that night. You were good, and you took the rose, I saw you, I saw you-“

“Why do you care so much?”

“Because people care about other people? Is that so hard to believe?”

“Stop. Stop. Stop. You’re making this so much worse-“

When the Flash starts, though, it’s hard for him to stop. “Caring? Is that’s what’s wrong? Is it the caring part? Let me fix you, Jinx, le…”

He trailed off, just a pause. “Making this worse…”

Jinx suddenly was standing still. She felt a little cold, and a little numb. “Oh,” she said.

“Making this worse?” A flash of a grin. A breaking out smile. “Making what worse?”

“You want to fix me?” Jinx said, in a kind of disbelief. 

“Making this decision worse,” Kid realized. “I’m making this decision worse for you… I knew it. I knew it, Jinx, I knew it- you care, even though you won’t admit it, ever. Even if you say you’re a bad person. You care about me. You didn’t hex me, back in your room, because you care. Yes-” he sang to the world, flinging his arms back. He sped in to twirl her around. It was only just now that Jinx realized the tiara was still on her head- it clattered to the ground next to her when he finally put her down. “Jinx caaaaaareeees-“

The worst part was that she did. Care. 

And there was a reason she hadn’t wanted to in the first place.

“Fix me?” She repeated, folding her arms. Her eyes looked down at the floor, refusing to give him the satisfaction of her looking. She noticed the tiara, dented and bruised. She snorted.

“No,” Kid realized, the smile still in his face. “No, no- you don’t need fixing. Not like that. Not like that at all-“

“But still. I have to fix myself? Because I’m not one of your perfect brand heroes? I don’t fit the description.”

“Jinx,” Kid said, changing tones. It wasn’t playful, but it was still light. It was soft. But he was clearly… Happy. “You’re sad. That’s what I meant. Let me make you happy.”

“Bullshit.”

“I mean it. Let me make you happy.”

“What if I’m already happy?”

“I’m not sure you are. And if being trapped by your life and your powers is your idea of happy, I think you need a new lesson.” 

“Because I can’t be a hero.”

“Because you won’t be one. Think about it: you could be a hero. You could help people.” He was getting too excited. His twitches were starting to blur into hyperspeed. “You could help me.”

“Fine. I won’t be a hero. Going to dump me on the side now? I’m trash? Wasted potential?”

“Never,” Kid said, and suddenly his face was half an inch away from hers. He was smiling, the dumb idiot, and Jinx’s hands started to glow. “You could never be trash.”

He brushed a hand. She flinched, and he laughed, and a blink went by and he was behind her, and his mouth was next to her ear, and he said, “Unfortunately, sweetheart, you being a villain and me being a hero, I can’t help but stop you-” 

Seven seconds later and he’s back, with all the treasures from 21st Street in his hands. “Sorry. Be back in a flash, just need to get these back-“

He zoomed away. Jinx was bewildered beyond belief now. Her emotions and thoughts all bumped and twisted up and into each other, unsure of what just happened-

He was back. “Anyways- that villainess hero thing really can be a huge inconvenience… that’s all. But we’ll work it out. I just need to make sure you don’t hurt any people-“

“So why don’t you just send me on to jail, huh?” Jinx crossed her arms crankily. In response, Kid tossed her the tiara and swept her up, bridal style.

A whir of world tumbled around them, and the air felt like bricks slamming into her face, and she was back in her room. Every treasure had been cleaned from it.  
“You know why.”

He snatched the tiara from her, left in a blink of an eye, and came back. “And by the way- what you said earlier-” he waved the thousand dollar accessory in her face like it was nothing- “this thing wasn’t the one I was coming to save.”

It took her a beat to realize what he was saying. He waited until the light dawned into her eyes to flash a quick, beaming, sunshine of a smile and whiz off.

“I don’t need saving,” she told the air that Kid Flash occupied just a moment ago.

She was furious.

And stunned.

And… She-

God. Kid.

She then noticed- another rose. In her hand. Replacing the tiara. 

And the one that’d been in the corner- it’d been propped up in the vase.

The one that kept her first now-dying roses. 

There was a note. A scrawling mess that she could barely decipher-

“It’s your choice”, it read.

Jinx found the rest of the HIVE FIVE knocked out, scattered across the floor of the living room. 

***

She did leave, eventually. Two weeks and a half later.

She said goodbye, and she had cried a little, walking away, and her team didn’t really seem to understand what she was doing, but they will soon enough. She’d left a note. A very long, personal note, that said too much and not enough at all.

The word “Choice” popped up a lot in the letter. 

He’d been waiting for her.

Welcome to the good side, lovely,” Kid Flash grinned. She stopped in her tracks, and observed him, quietly, to herself, feeling more mature than she had been in years, and raised an eyebrow. His red hair glinted in the harsh lamp light and turned into a dark rust shadow in the parts it didn’t hit. His eyes, of course, were as starry of a blue as ever, even in the dark. He continued to grin, a happy beam stretching from one cheek to the other.

“Who says I left to join the good side? Who says I didn’t leave one disgusting and evil group of people to join another equally evil and not so disgusting group of people?”

“Because you care.”

He was leaning against a wall, still beaming. The very very very rare person that was still walking around at 2:30 in the morning would swiftly avoid them as they scuttled on by. The lamppost illuminated their figures in sharp shadows and harsh, muddled glows.

“Yeah,” she said, thinking back, shifting the weight on her foot. “I guess I kind of do. Doesn’t mean anything, though. Maybe I’ll be a new mixture. A little bit of both. Evil and good. Sorry to disappoint.”

Kid was still smiling, but surprise fluttered around his face. He didn’t seem to quite know how to respond to that.

It was a beautiful sight to see. Kid caught off guard. She laughed, clear, ringing, cheerful. He laughed with her, at that.

“Hey,“ he noticed. "Look at that. You’re happy.”

“No,” she said, still laughing. “Not all the way. But happier. And maybe even happier-er in the future.”

Hope seeped through to her heart, beating it, exciting it. A new beginning.

“Happier-er?” he echoed, with a quick tug on one side of his lips. There was a small, pretty, blushing silence before-“So. Where are you going? What’s your next step?” Flash said, as he himself took a step forwards. Towards her.

Here’s the thing: Jinx had thought about it and hadn’t. She planned it out and left gaps from improvisation. She was leaving enough blank spaces to be somewhat free from the cage of time and just enough scheduling to keep her from being lost.

“Do you have a place to sleep?” Kid asked, taking another step forwards. His eyes sparkled. 

“I will,” Jinx said, slowly. In time.

“That’s not really an answer.”

She shrugged, a smile struggling with itself and playing over her face.

“You could come with me,” Kid started, as a casual toss out there. There was his usual confident grin, but a little… Was that nervousness? Just the smallest touch?  
Jinx couldn’t help it. Her heart leaped. At the offer, the slightest bit of shyness, how cute he looked-

Oh, god. She couldn’t deny it now. 

She liked-

“No,” she stated, cutting her thoughts off. Kid raised both eyebrows. 

“Why not? You need a place to stay. You need somewhere to sleep.”

“I don’t need saving,” Jinx said, happily. She knew and had been hoping that she’d be able to say this: “I can take care of myself.”

Kid blinked. “Oh,” he realized. “I just- we’re friends, right?”

“I’m not really sure,” Jinx said, for two completely different reasons. She blushed for one of those reasons, slightly, and flicked her eyes away.

“Well, we are,” Kid decided. “At least a little bit of us are. And friends help out friends. And you need a place. And I have a place. And I thought since we, like-“

“I didn’t leave for you, Kid. I left for myself. Get that straight. I’m not going to dump my whole life away for a boy I like. It’s going to be… For something bigger. A better life than what I had before.” She crossed her arms defiantly, bursting with joy on the insides. “So I’m going to do things my way. Without help. Without dependence. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? For me to be happy?”

He was stunned. She was proud. She mentally patted herself on the back for putting him in his place, for showing him who’s boss, for telling him what was up-

A crazy grin lept over his features, and Jinx faltered a little.

“Well, sweetheart-“

He was gone.

For a split second, crushing confusion, disappointment, and anger settled into her body, and she whipped her head around-

And smashed right into his nose.

And arms.

And lips.

One hand hugged her neck while the other brushed her chin, cheek, hair, back of head. She could feel his smile through the kiss. And he smelled like lemons, still, and a little bit of sweat, and a lot like boy.

Something beautiful erupted from her chest into a tickling liquid energy feeling that spread like warmth to her toes, hands, ears.

“You like me, huh?,” he broke away to tease once before running off. Jinx had yet to respond back in actions. She hadn’t moved from her spot.

She felt a jolt of air move from behind her.

Lips travelled to just below her ear. “Funny. Because the thing is, I like you.”

He wrapped an arm around her stomach for a quick hug, resting his cheek on the top of her head, swaying for a suspended moment in time, before excitedly running off again.

It took a couple of moments to get herself together, she had to admit. She shook her head once, twice. Her heart was soaring, and the lovely golden liquid feeling was floating around in her- it was beautiful. She felt beautiful.

“Okay,” Jinx told the air, just the perfect mixture of peeved and blissful. “That’s the only part you heard? The 'I Like You' part? Alright.”

Jinx closed her eyes and sighed a pretty sigh, her arms coming up to cross, teetering, floating in the feeling and willing it to calm down, trying to regain her balance.

Finally, finally, she opened her eyes, reaching down to pick up her luggage, and his voice spoke from somewhere else-

“Your choices. But if you need me… For anything-” she could hear the waggle of eyebrows in those last words, and she tries her hardest not to blush. “Call my name, Jinxie.”

She was already moving away from the voice, leaving with luggage, tingling lips, and feeling of warmth heating up every inch of her body.

She stopped once, touching her hands to her cheeks. She didn’t realize he was still watching, and would continue to watch until she got to her hotel area safely, and that there would be a dozen roses all waiting for her when she woke up, with a simple note with the tiniest heart on it.

Also, a little lightning doodle in the corner.

And that’s all.

He was and wasn’t the reason why she left. 

Just like, she decided right then, he would be part of -but not all of -the masterpiece of a new life she was constructing.


End file.
